Dictators like Saddam
Hussein have always used nepotism to protect their secrets and maintain
control. Like a dictatorship, the inner cabal that directs the actions of
the Bush administration uses the same tactics to confuse the public and
conceal the truth of 9/11.

The Defense Department
defines nepotism as the situation when relatives are in the same
chain-of-command.

An egregious example
of dictatorial-style nepotism occurred when George W. Bush won the White
House ? twice ? thanks to the key "swing state" of Florida, where the
presidential candidate's younger brother is governor. In 2000 and 2004,
against all odds, Florida swung decisively, the Bush way.

With high federal
offices being given to the wives, sons and daughters of senior members of
the Bush administration, the Hearst Corporation executives that publish
Popular Mechanics magazine probably didn't worry about the ethical
considerations of hiring a cousin of Michael Chertoff, a former Assistant
Attorney General and the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), as senior researcher.

But the March 2005
issue of Popular Mechanics (PM) plumbs new depths of nepotism and
Hearst-style "yellow journalism" with its cover story about 9/11. PM's
senior researcher, 25-year-old Benjamin Chertoff, authored a propagandistic
cover story entitled "Debunking 9/11 Lies" which seeks to discredit all
independent 9/11 research that challenges the official version of events.

"Conspiracy theories
can't stand up to the hard facts," the cover reads. "After an in-depth
investigation, PM answers with the truth," it says. But the article fails to
provide evidence to support its claims and doesn't answer the key question:
What caused the collapses of the twin towers and the 47-story World Trade
Center 7?

The Chertoff article
goes on to confront the "poisonous claims" of 16 "myths" spun by "extremist"
9/11 researchers like myself with "irrefutable facts," mostly provided by
individuals in the employ of the U.S. government.

But who is Benjamin
Chertoff, the "senior researcher" at Popular Mechanics who is behind the
article? American Free Press has learned that he is none other than a cousin
of Michael Chertoff, the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security.

This means that Hearst
paid Benjamin Chertoff to write an article supporting the seriously flawed
explanation that is based on a practically non-existent investigation of the
terror event that directly led to the creation of the massive national
security department his "cousin" now heads. This is exactly the kind of
"journalism" one would expect to find in a dictatorship like that of Saddam
Hussein's Iraq.

Because the manager of
public relations for Popular Mechanics didn't respond to repeated calls from
American Free Press, I called Benjamin Chertoff, the magazine's "senior
researcher," directly.

Chertoff said he was
the "senior researcher" of the piece. When asked if he was related to
Michael Chertoff, he said, "I don't know." Clearly uncomfortable about
discussing the matter further, he told me that all questions about the
article should be put to the publicist ? the one who never answers the
phone.

Benjamin's mother in
Pelham, New York, however, was more willing to talk. Asked if Benjamin
was related to the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Judy said, "Yes, of
course, he is a cousin."